FRANKLIN FURNACE ARCHIVE, INC. ANNOUNCES THE 2016-17 FRANKLIN FURNACE FUND RECIPIENTS, SUPPORTED BY JEROME FOUNDATION, THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CITY COUNCIL, AND WITH GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT FROM THE NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL ON THE ARTS.

This season marks the 31st anniversary of the Franklin Furnace Fund. Initiated in 1985 with the support of Jerome Foundation, Franklin Furnace has annually awarded grants to emerging artists selected by peer panel review to enable them to prepare major performance art works in New York. Events are presented in partnership with collegial venues, online, or in the city environment.

For 2016-17, Franklin Furnace received support from Jerome Foundation, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and general operating support from the New York State Council on the Arts, which enabled Franklin Furnace’s July 2016 peer review panel to award $40,000 to eight deserving artists and collaborations selected from among 421 proposals.

Franklin Furnace has no curator; each year, a new panel of artists reviews all proposals. We believe that this peer review system allows a diverse array of artists an equal opportunity to present their work in New York. Each year we discuss anew what “performance art” is, how “emerging” is defined, and these days the notion of “liveness,” as during the last decade, artists have created works on every point of the spectrum between the body of the artist and the circulatory network of the Internet, and now technology is viewed as a given. This year's esteemed selection panel of artists Donald Hải Phú Daedalus, Joyce Yu-Jean Lee, Tracie Morris, and Clifford Owens met July 23, 24, and 25, 2016, and decided to award $5000 grants to eight artists and collaborations.

The Fund has consistently identified emerging talent in advance of wider art world recognition: Karen Finley, John Fleck and Holly Hughes received support before the “culture wars” made them household names; artists of color such as Tanya Barfield, Patty Chang, Papo Colo, Nicolas Dumit Estevez, Coco Fusco, M. Lamar, Robbie McCauley, Naeem Mohaiemen, Rashaad Newsome, Clifford Owens, Pope.L, Dread Scott and Pamela Sneed received support at crucial, early points in their careers. We believe this success is due to the composition of Franklin Furnace's peer panels, which represent a diverse range of practice, ethnic and cultural background, sexual preference, age and physical ability, as well as differing levels of familiarity with new technology.

FRANKLIN FURNACE FUND RECIPIENTS 2016-17:

Amanda Alfieri (Queens, NY)*

Doreen Garner (Brooklyn, NY)*

Dietmar Krumrey and Kyle William Butler (Clare, MI)

Nadja Verena Marcin (Brooklyn, NY)*

Carlos Martiel (Brooklyn, NY)*

Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz (Winter Park, FL)

Ari Tabei (Brooklyn, NY)*

Whoop Dee Doo (Matt Roche / Jaimie Warren) (Brooklyn, NY)*

*Artists supported by Jerome Foundation. Jerome Foundation support of the Franklin Furnace Fund is restricted to artists living in the five boroughs of New York City or the state of Minnesota.

PLEASE VISIT THE LINKS TO THE LEFT FOR INDIVIDUAL PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS AND BIOGRAPHIES.